6/01/2012

Watch Free TV Online - Top 10 Free TV Links

Several months ago i wrote about my Internet TV setup in my living room. I don't have cable so i watch all my shows via the internet, on a 51" plasma TV, using a wireless keyboard and mouse. But i thought that it would be useful if i went more in-depth on how to watch TV, live sports and movies. I think that this will become much more common with companies like NetFlix, which stream shows and movies for a monthly charge. And even larger companies like Apple and Google releasing an actual box that you hook up to your TV to watch their content.

Anyway, here are the best sites that i have been using for years to watch virtually any TV show, at any time, online. I have separated them into their own categories for ease of understanding. Free TVIn my opinion the best website to watch free TV shows is Project Free TV. They also have movies available but i rarely use the site for movies. I'll get into more detail on how these type of sites work in a second, just know that this type of website is a gateway or directory to shows and movies uploaded by people. Then anyone is able to watch those shows for free. New shows typically appear 12 hours after the show has aired. So for example if a new Mythbusters episode airs on Wednesday, you would be able to watch it Thursday morning. Plus every previous episode from every season is available as well.Here's what the site looks like. You can sort by Show, sort by Type, or what i typically use is sort by Recently Aired. I usually have it list the newly updated shows from the past 7 days.

This is just a tiny portion of the shows available. They are mostly new shows, currently on TV, but there are lots of old shows like Gilligan's Island and old Transformer cartoons. It's great for watching episodes and entire seasons of old shows that wouldn't be available any place else.

Using Project Free TV once you click on a show, like Mythbusters, it takes you to this page. Here you select which season, then which specific show you would like to watch. Notice at the bottom there are 3 links for Season 10 Episode 9, then below that it has links like movieshare.net, sockshare.com, putlocker.com, then to the right it has 100%, 70%, 70%. Those are the actual host sites and their percentage of working links, as voted or updated by users. More about this below.

Then when you click on a link for a specific episode you come to this page, which is where the actual video is played. Depending on how fast your internet connection is and how fast the host website is streaming the video, you may have to wait a few minutes to watch the show without buffering interruptions. But then just like any video, click the Expand arrows and watch it just like a normal TV show, without any commercials.Just remember...Never Download Anything. Just press play.Also i would recommend getting AdBlocker and PopUpBlocker for your internet browser.

Ok, now for a little more detail on how these types of sites work. Because there are lots of other websites that basically do the same thing as Project Free TV. Sites like:

SideReel

Spreety

TVLinks

FreeTVOnline

And the list goes on. They all look about the same and do basically the same thing...link to uploaded video content. See these sites don't actually host any shows, they are basically just the middleman. They provide the users a link to the shows they want to watch.Here are some of the types of websites where people actually upload the shows:

PutLocker

VidXDen

SockShare

Then websites like Project Free TV finds those uploads and sorts them into the right TV show. As you saw above with multiple links to Mythbusters Season 10 Episode 9.

Because as you can see in the images below, PutLocker and VidXDen are not geared toward finding or watching shows, they are simply a file storage site.

It's sort of a win-win-win. The uploader gets to store all of his videos online for free. Actually i think they get money if they upload a certain amount. The websites like VidXDen get money from advertisers whose ads they attach to the videos. And like i said earlier, get onto your computer if you accidentally click Download. Then sites like Project Free TV get money from advertisers on there site. And finally the users get to watch free TV shows.

Live Sports StreamProject Free TV and the sites i listed above are great for watching network shows or old episodes, but what if you want to watch live sports. Then sites like that don't really work. So you need to find a site which offers a live stream of the event.First Row Sports is a site similar to Project Free TV in that it doesn't host any content itself, but instead of linking to video uploads it links to live video streams.

As you can see it has live streams of sports from all over the world. The streams themselves come from several places including individual users tv's and actual networks.An example of a network that provides live streams of sporting events is ESPN. The actual site name is ESPN360 also called ESPN3 or WatchESPN.

They provide you with a list of upcoming streams, separated by sport. Since i don't have cable, this is where i am able to watch Michigan State Football games live at home. If it's not on a network station like NBC, ABC or CBS it is usually streamed here on ESPN3.

Justin TV is a website that allows individual people to stream their television to the internet. I've never had much luck searching the site for a live sports event, but i know that lots of the streams come through here. Justin TV is similar to VidXDen or PutLocker, but instead of a person uploading a TV show, they are uploading their live stream.Networks and Commercial SitesThe following sites are the legal and legitimate ways that someone can watch TV on the internet. Not that i'm saying that the previous sites i named are illegal, just that the sites below are directly from the network or at least have the companies approval to stream their shows.Hulu was one of the first big names in providing online content. When people first started learning that you could watch television on the internet, Hulu was the most popular site at that time. Since then it has evolved into a more watered down version of itself. It now has ads at the beginning of the shows and every 10 minutes...just like normal TV. It doesn't have every show available but it's still a save reliable site to watch lots of show. So if you've never watched a tv show online before, this would be a good place to start.

Being a bit of a nerd i love watching old episodes of Nova. This site is through PBS and offers tons of old shows, specials, clips and additional content of previously aired shows. Neil DeGrasse Tyson is the "host" of Nova Science Now and there's a lot of cool 15 minute specials that you can watch online.If science isn't your thing then you will probably skip this one but i love it. For example the image below shows the link to Secrets of the Samurai Sword. It's shows actual techniques that were used to create the curved blade of the samurai sword. I've watched that hour and 30 minute episode twice.

Typically all network TV stations offer shows directly through their homepage as well. ABC, NBC, CBS, etc. all have full episodes of their most recently aired shows available. So if you know what show you want to watch, what network it is on, and it's not available on HULU, just go to the network page and you might be able to watch it directly.

TorrentsTorrents have been around for quite a while now and are great if you want to actually download the actual show or watch TV or movies in HD. If you don't know what a torrent is, do you remember the music file sharing site Napster?A torrent is a tiny file you download, which directs your computer to other computers. For example if you want to watch Game of Thrones in 720p HD then torrents are the way to go. Just like the sites i've listed above, there are tons of options but my favorite is Torrentz.eu. Like Project Free TV, Torrentz doesn't host the torrent files, it directs you to the sites that host the torrents. So it is able to give lots of results.

Once the tiny torrent file is downloaded, usually under 30kb, you need to add it to a downloader. I use uTorrent, since it is small and powerful. When the torrent is added it will start finding other computers that are sharing the TV show or movie. With a fast internet connection, an entire 1 hour HD episode can be downloaded in less than 30 minutes.It might sound complicated but but once you try it for the first time you'll see it's pretty simple. But then again, like Project Free TV and First Row Sports, i'm not 100% sure of it's legality. The music and movie industry is trying to shut down a lot of the websites that offer torrents to download. But since copyright and trademarks are different in other countries it never works.So these are the ways in which i watch TV shows, live sport and HD television and movies. And like i said i think this will be the way of the future. I predict that in less that 10 years there won't be any more cable companies, everything will be available through an internet connection. They just need to make it simple and easy to understand for the average person to use.

14 comments:

hi. I have a sony google tv and with some of these streaming sights such as first row sports or free-tv-video, when I go to a streaming video... as soon as it loads, i am automatically redirected to the site for a would-have-been pop-up (on my laptop it would have been a pop-up) thereby not letting me view the streaming video. Any solution or workaround you are aware of? Thanks

Ya, first never click Download or Install. Just click on the triangle Play button. Sometimes you have to click on Play 2 or 3 times before it starts. I also noticed that sites like VidXDen are now requiring that you enter a Captcha code.

The second thing is that you should install some sort of Ad-Blocker and Pop-Up-Blocker.

I'm not sure about a Sony Google TV though. I just use Firefox and Chrome and on both of those is have installed Ad Block Plus and another Pop Up Blocker Add-On. That stops any redirects from those pages.

I remember for some sites though the video's wouldn't have a control bar at the bottom so i did have to watch it on their direct page. It still worked it's just another site i had to view it through.

Also here are 2 of new favorite sites for watching live sports like Monday Night Football and Football games on the Big Ten Network. Their quality isn't the best but they usually have every game 30 minutes before they air live.

Is there a good site for live streaming of the major US and Canadian Networks from anywhere in the world? I know there are good sites for sports, but what about regular TV. I reside in Canada and am blocked from most US live streaming sites. Can anyone help refer me to a good site? Thanks!

VIPBox has channels other than sports. If you go to the main page and look at the lower right corner you will see TV Channels. Then can select USA or type in Canada. The link to Canada only has a couple but the USA link will take you here http://www.vipboxus.co/sports/usa-tv.html#selected

It shows a bunch of links but i've noticed that when you try them, most say NOT FOUND. I've watched ESPN live through here though and that usually works.

I added Bitdefender. It blocks a lot. Is there a way around this without dropping the protection? I am so very computer illiterate. For this I apologize. But since dropping my cable I have become very dependent on PFT for shows. I will be going into withdrawal very soon.

Dave, I too like project free TV but they don't have the show I want to watch (Little Dorrit). So another great site is watchseries.lt and I've been able to watch 4 episodes using the link "played" until today. For some reason, today its not working. Can you advise me of another site that offers this show?